Prior grant recipients

Recipients are recognized for their innovative approaches to the prevention & management of diabetes, wellness, nutrition, obesity prevention and oral health care. Applications are reviewed annually by a panel of Sun Life employees, business partners and independent health experts.

The following organizations have received a grant from the Sun Life Health Access grant program:

2023 recipients

Sun Life's Team Up grant will support Bright Beginnings' efforts to incorporate diabetes awareness, education, and prevention into their programming for children and families residing in Wards 7 and 8, the two most under-resourced districts in Washington, D.C. The programming impacts more than 400 individuals through the organization's Health & Wellness program, which aims to establish a fresh food farmers market, host weekly physical education activities, cooking classes, and parent fitness classes, and provide educational materials and resources.

Camp Surefire will use its Team Up grant to provide financial assistance for youth to attend its overnight camp, which offers children with type 1 diabetes a community of peers and promotes the development of life-long skills to minimize the impact of diabetes on their lives. Sun Life's grant will also support staffing and program supplies for the camp. Camp Surefire is the only camp dedicated to children living with type 1 diabetes in Rhode Island.

Chicago Commons Association's Heroes of Healthy Habits program provides holistic health and wellness services to low-income parents on Chicago's South and West sides, reaching nearly 470 families. Sun Life's grant will support expansion of programming for diabetes awareness and prevention, including culturally relevant messaging, leadership training, nutrition and cooking workshops, and one-on-one diabetes nutrition counseling.

The CompuRecycling Center's Medical Ascension Program provides high school youth with the opportunity to become Youth Diabetes Management Coaches (YDMCs) for their families and communities. Sun Life's grant will support a variety of program expenses, including staffing support, physical education instructors, registered dieticians, produce boxes for participants and training manuals for YDMCs. The Team Up grant will be part of the program's goal to create 300 new YDMCs.

The Iowa City Free Medical Clinic's Good to Great program aims to supplement ongoing routine care for Hispanic/Latinx individuals who are at risk for or living with diabetes by providing tools that support their overall health. Participants receive Spanish-language one-on-one health education, access to group workshops, exercise programs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and nutrition and cooking classes. Sun Life's Team Up grant will specifically support increased staffing capacity to hire a registered nurse, purchase insulin and other patient supplies, and hire a part-time Spanish-speaking health instructor to create and facilitate a bilingual diabetes program.

The T2 Fresh Start Initiative is a free, 12-week comprehensive wellness program that aims to decrease the health disparities impacting Black women and individuals living in under-resourced communities who have diabetes. Program participants attend bi-weekly fitness classes, nutrition classes, and regular meetings with a diabetes educator, and have access to group mental health therapy. Sun Life's support will help T2 expand the program to additional participants living in the Hampton Roads and Western Tidewater areas of Virgina.

2022 recipients

AdventHealth’s Healthy Weight and Wellness program is a comprehensive health and wellness program that provides children and families with proven tools to live a healthy, active life by combining family education and support with professional medical services to combat obesity. Sun Life’s grant will help serve over 100 low-income children and teens and their families, supporting programming in nutrition, health coaching and physical activities.

The Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio provides affordable and appropriate pharmacy services to underserved communities, as well as access to health care, nutritious food, affordable medicine, and health education. The goal of the newly established Sun Life Farmacy in the City program is to assist people in managing their diabetes and improving their overall health. Patients receive prescriptions for fresh food, cooking and meal planning guidance, and diabetes supplies. Sun Life’s grant will help fund testing supplies, disease self-monitoring equipment, educational materials and staff support for more than 700 patients, as well as broaden access to nutritious foods in areas where residents don’t have full-service grocery stores.

Progresso Latino is the only Latino-led, bilingual organization in Rhode Island offering diabetes programming. The Salud, Salsa and Sabor program aims to address issues of health equity by combining traditional diabetes prevention programming with food access and physical activities. The program is offered bilingually, in a virtual/hybrid format, with the goal of instilling behavioral changes and promoting weight loss to prevent or manage diabetes. Sun Life’s grant will support one-on-one coaching, community and medical referrals, weekly workshops and nutrition classes.

The Cooking & Culture program offers nutrition education for elementary school students, seeking to foster nutritional knowledge, diabetes prevention, and empowerment in vulnerable children. Sun Life’s grant will support expenses, program materials, weekly farm share fruits and vegetables for all participants, and field trips. Supporting the Blue Hill Corridor of Boston, Sportman’s Center works with some of the most underserved communities in Boston, of which 94 percent identify as persons of color, and 88 percent of households speak a language other than English. The program aims to address issues of health disparity in Greater Boston. 

Sugga Mama’s supports underserved and vulnerable women and families living with diabetes and prediabetes. Sun Life’s grant will support virtual sessions of The Boot Camp Experience, which serves communities where less than 50 percent of the population has received any formal diabetes education. The program offers interactive workshops consisting of low impact cardio workouts, educational sessions, goal setting and healthy coping. 

University of Michigan’s Men’s Health Education Project aims to reach Black men in the Detroit area to help them better manage their type 2 diabetes. Tailored from an existing peer program, the Project works with male barbers as peer leader health advocates, targeting diabetes-related lifestyle and self-management behaviors. Sun Life’s grant will support staffing, participant incentives, and equipment, including health monitoring devices.

Grant recipients are chosen each year by a panel of experts from Sun Life and business partners. The panel reviews the applications and determines the organizations that have demonstrated innovative approaches to diabetes support, education, and broadening access to nutrition and health services. This year’s panel included:

  • John Adams, Lead Product Manager, Sun Life 
  • Irlande Audenier, Vice President, Group and Voluntary Claims, Sun Life
  • Angel Bennett, Long-Term Disability Case Manager, Sun Life
  • Kim Coutinho, Director, Distribution Learning & Development, Sun Life
  • Amy Deschaines, Vice President, Account Executive, Lockton Companies
  • Dr. Tracy Hamill, Assistant Vice President, Medical Director, Sun Life
  • Ann-Marie Hejna, Manager, Business Development, ComPsych
  • Tammi Hendrick, Senior Executive Administrative Assistant, Sun Life
  • Gina Hill, Quality Development Analyst, Sun Life
  • Latoya Keatts, Long-Term Disability Claims Case Manager, Sun Life
  • Peter Kilmartin, Senior Vice President, Aon
  • Glenna Lasater, Vice President of Human Resources, MGIS Companies  
  • Andre Lockett, Broker Services Licensing Specialist, Sun Life

Since the Team Up Against Diabetes grant program began in 2016, Sun Life U.S. has given more than $32 million to diabetes and health programs. Sun Life also partners with the American Diabetes Association in support of the Project Power program, the Boston Celtics in support of the YMCA of Greater Boston’s diabetes education and fitness programs, and the Kansas City Royals in support of diabetes programs in Kansas City.

2021 recipients

Mama’s Kitchen, based in San Diego, CA will be the recipient of a $25,000 grant from Sun Life in support of its Diabetes Nutrition Program. Started in 1990 as a free meal delivery service to local residents living with HIV/AIDS, Mama’s Kitchen has expanded their programming to support other at-risk populations including those battling cancer, individuals with congestive heart failure, and those facing chronic kidney disease. Mama’s Kitchen was the recipient of a Sun Life grant in 2018 which helped launched their Diabetes Nutrition Pilot Program, to provide medically tailored meals and nutrition education to those battling type 2 diabetes. Sun Life’s grant this year will help make their diabetes nutrition program permanent, ensuring that those affected by diabetes continue to receive the help they need via meal support and nutrition education from a registered dietician. Since starting the pilot, the program has delivered over 90,000 meals to nearly 300 residents battling the disease. Recipients are primarily communities of color, representing over 60% of the individuals served. 

Shepherd’s Clinic, based in Baltimore, MD will be the recipient of a $25,000 grant from Sun Life. Shepherd’s Clinic provides comprehensive health care for uninsured/underinsured adults in the Baltimore region. Sun Life’s grant will help support their Diabetes Self-Management Program, a unique approach to educate, treat, support, and manage patients with pre-diabetes or diabetes. In addition to providing self-management education, medications, testing strips, goal setting, and nutrition/food assistance, the program also provides advanced training to their staff members on how structural racism experiences impact health. As part of the program, the Clinic will engage in screening for racism experiences to better tailor patient care plans and to increase the Clinic’s ability to address the behavioral health barriers that might mitigate remission rates of diabetes. In addition Sun Life’s support will also provide patient incentives for accomplishing individual health goals including transportation cost coverage, food boxes, and gift cards. 

The Sansum Diabetes Research Institute (SDRI) in Santa Barbara, CA will be the recipient of a $50,000 grant from Sun Life to support their Veggie IQ program. SDRI is dedicated to improving the lives of people impacted by diabetes through research, education, and care. Founded in 1944 by William Sansum, the first U.S. physician to administer insulin to treat diabetes, SDRI’s main focus is to improve the health and quality of life for men, women and children in Santa Barbara County who suffer from or are at risk for diabetes. Sun Life’s grant will support SDRI’s Veggie IQ initiative, an innovative evidence-based program for low-income, underserved youth to improve their knowledge about and consumption of vegetables and fruits, which will lead to measurable health improvements, better mental health, and improved physicality. The program will be led by trained local youth, or “Youth Scientists,” who will create important, motivational and culturally appropriate content for information-sharing with other marginalized youth in the community. Using wearable tracking devices, youth will also be able to see the immediate impact of the food they consume and learn about data collection, analysis, and reporting on health outcomes. 

Whispering Roots (WR) in Omaha, NE will be the recipient of a $50,000 grant from Sun Life to support their Food Justice Initiative. The mission of Whispering Roots is to use innovative next-generation agricultural practices to provide nutritious food, hands-on learning, and career pathways that cultivate healthy communities. Their main services include emergency food distribution, a food pharmacy, farm stands, STEM nutrition and culinary education, and indigenous agriculture support. Sun Life’s support will expand their “Grow, Feed, and Educate” model in the following ways: Grow – cultivate, maintain and harvest raised bed gardens producing vegetables and indigenous plants. Feed – through emergency food distribution, a new food prescription program for diabetic and pre-diabetic patients, and a food pharmacy, Whispering Roots hopes to expand on its delivery of over 1,600 culturally appropriate meals on a weekly basis. Educate – through nutrition and culinary classes, food pharmacy classes, and indigenous sustainability training, they hope to expand their current offering of over 116 classes that last year reached over 6,000 community members.

Appetite for Change in Minneapolis, MN will be the recipient of a $100,000 grant from Sun Life to support their Healthy Meal Box Delivery Program. Appetite for Change is a community-led non-profit that uses food as a tool to build health, wealth, and social change. As a black led organization, their programs are all based around a goal of creating health equity and eliminating health disparities in North Minneapolis which is comprised of 75% people of color, and to serve as a model to engage and elevate black communities. Sun Life’s grant will support their meal box program, which began at the onset of COVID-19 and became a collaborative effort with local organizations as a powerful model to support economic stability for small and mid-sized BIPOC farmers. In a six-month span, the organization has delivered over 117,000 healthy meals to over 800 families in the region. As part of the program, Appetite for Change collects weekly surveys that focus on behavior change, cooking, skills, and nutrition intake. In particular, the grant will be used to increase the number of meals served, along with development of new materials, cooking education support, program evaluations, and dissemination of program results.

The Center Helping Obesity in Children End Successfully (CHOICES) will be the recipient of a $100,000 grant from Sun Life to support their Community Teaching Project and Mobile Food Pantry Program in Atlanta, GA. CHOICES was founded in 2002 to be a resource center for families with children at greater risk for childhood obesity, and integrates evidence-based and culturally appropriate practices to engage families and local strategic partners to feed the community. With Sun Life’s support, CHOICES will be able to increase the number of children and families that they serve by expanding their onsite and virtual educational services, increase the frequency of food distributions, and implement new distance learning opportunities. The goal of the program for youth is to increase knowledge of cooking basics and proper nutrition, increase physical activity, decrease screen time and drive positive changes in attitudes and mental health. Sun Life’s grant will help CHOICES support over 33,000 children and families over the course of the next year, including teaching 2,000 children how to cook, 10,000 families with food via the Mobile Food Pantry program, and serve over 200 adults/caregivers through quarterly Diabetes workshops. 

2020 recipients

Emory University was be the recipient of a $100,000#TeamUpAgainstDiabetes grant from Sun Life. Emory University will be using the power of soccer to prevent diabetes among minority men. This program will leverage the power of sport to engage a predominately minority population (33% African American, 33% Asian, 33% White) in the National Diabetes Prevention Program.

The Hunger Intervention Program was the recipient of a $25,000 #TeamUpAgainstDiabetes grant from Sun Life. HIP’s mission is to increase food security across all stages of life for underserved populations in King County, Washington through nutritious meals, prevention-focused educational programs, and anti-hunger advocacy. Sun Life’s grant will also support HIP’s Healthy HIP Classes to bring cooking and nutrition education classes to children and their families.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (Native Food for Life) in Washington, D.C. is one of the recipients of a $50,000 #TeamUpAgainstDiabetes grant from Sun Life to support their Native Food for Life program, which focuses on the prevention and reversal of diabetes in the Navajo Nation and the Eight Northern Pueblos of New Mexico. Sun Life’s support of this program will allow for the adaptation of the Native Food for Life curriculum into an online format, will train at least six local experts to assist in program delivery, and will help launch community workshops in four new locations.

This year, the Supportive Older Women's Network (@SOWN50) received a $25,000 Sun Life #TeamUpAgainstDiabetes grant to support its Philly Families Eat Smart program. The PFES program focuses on increasing #healthy eating and physical activity in grandparent-headed families to reduce obesity and improve health.

Victory Programs was the recipient of a $50,000 #TeamUpAgainstDiabetes grant from Sun Life. Victory Programs focuses on providing fresh produce and nutrition information to food-insecure families in the Dorchester and Mattapan areas of Boston. With Sun Life’s support, Victory Programs will be able to maximize food security for families living in their nearby ReVision Family Home, along with other low-income residents in the area. 

2019 recipients

Boston Children’s Hospital’s OWL program is focused on addressing pediatric obesity. The grant support will help expand OWL’s exercise component to the Torigian Family YMCA in Peabody, Mass. Boston Children’s hopes to engage about 200 children at this facility in a program that expands the scope of care and reinforces the importance of physical activity through fitness tracking and diverse programming. 

Mama’s Kitchen provides home-delivered, medically tailored, nutritious meals free of charge to local men, women and children vulnerable to hunger due to HIV, cancer and other critical illnesses, including congestive heart failure and Type 2 diabetes. With this grant support, the program expects to serve 200 more homes, helping to improve access to nutritious foods and diabetes self-management coaching, reduce disease complications and lower healthcare costs while improving overall health outcomes.

NOVA Scripts Central provides prescription drugs to uninsured and underinsured patients in the Northern Virginia community. Its ALL PHASE program pairs an evidence-backed medication regimen with a health literacy curriculum designed to reduce diabetic patients’ risk of heart attack or stroke. Sun Life’s grant will enable NOVA Scripts to continue to recruit patients to its ALL PHASE program and help support a nutrition pilot program for 250 patients.

Sansum Diabetes Research Institute’s Farming For Life was created to reduce the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in the local area and reverse the worsening health crisis with “prescriptions” for free, fresh organic vegetables, rather than expensive medications. A physician writes patients a weekly vegetable prescription based on their health measurements, and when participants fill their prescriptions, they receive enough vegetables to feed their family for the week. Sun Life’s grant will help the center expand this program and serve more people in need in the Santa Barbara community.

Poor access to healthy, nutritious foods puts adults at a 50% higher risk for developing diabetes. Western Maryland Health System’s food security program aims to prevent this risk by assessing and streamlining a sustainable approach to combating the problem. With this grant funding, the program will be able to screen 2,400 at-risk individuals to assess their need for cooking equipment, vouchers for healthy foods from local pantries, healthy living workshops, and access to dieticians and wellness programs. Additionally, the food security program will focus on monthly community outreach events that include risk assessments, cooking demonstrations and physical activities. In the long term, the program will develop a process to identify health gaps, recruit community partners, and integrate into county health and human service networks.

WMHS has been at the forefront of value-based care and is continually working to improve the overall health of the community with a variety of health initiatives. WMHS has also addressed underserved populations with the Hometown Healthy outreach program, which aims to help at-risk populations make more informed healthcare decisions.

2018 recipients

Boston Children's Hospital (BCH), in collaboration with The Dimock Center and East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC), is launching a mobile kitchen initiative, which will increase access to nutrition education and healthy cooking opportunities in an effort to reduce the risk of diet-related disease. Dimock and EBNHC, which are community partners in BCH's Fitness in the City Program, will use the mobile kitchens for cooking demonstrations, nutrition education, Head Start programs and agriculture pick-ups, among other activities. With this grant, Boston Children's, Dimock and EBNHC intend to equip health center patients in disadvantaged communities with the resources necessary to address the intersecting issues of food insecurity, obesity and diabetes.

Camp Surefire offers a weeklong, overnight summer camp to children and youth with Type 1 diabetes. Camp Surefire features recreation, diabetes education seminars, and socializing with peers and others who understand the unique challenges of living with Type 1 diabetes. The program serves 85 campers annually aged 6-17 from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The grant will assist in providing financial support to children in need.

Dogs4Diabetics (D4D) mission is to train, support, and partner insulin-dependent clients with life-saving Medical-Alert Service Dogs and Diabetes Buddy Dogs to reduce the risks associated with diabetes. D4D also works to promote, develop, and advocate for standards of quality performance and support of all medical service dog teams. They join the diabetic community in hoping for a cure of the disease, but our sole purpose is to support diabetics by providing service dogs that improve their quality of life today.

Grant funding will support the Client Training and Educational Program for 24 insulin-dependent children and adults during the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Once clients successfully complete training, they are then placed with their life-saving Medical-Alert Service Dog to help them better manage their diabetes. The program typically takes clients three months to complete and is taught by a team of 3-5 instructors in addition to diabetes educators, physicians, nutritionists and wellness coaches.

Grow Ohio Valley (GOV) is a local food hub that will apply grant funding to its Sprout and Farmacy programs. Through the Farmacy, doctors write prescriptions for vegetables to patients with diet-related illnesses such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. Participants collect local produce each week at the GOV farm stand, and participate in cooking demos, recipe exchanges, nutrition education and health screenings. The Sprout program delivers interactive educational programming to local youth, centered around agricultural and nutritional literacy. Sprout provides an early intervention to make fresh vegetables more accessible and appealing to young people, building a culture of health. Together, these programs will reach more than 3,400 children and 100 adults.

Go Austin/Vamos Austin (GAVA) will use their grant to support community organizing to build resident leadership and institutional alignment in five sectors -- Physical Activity, Healthy Food Access, Coordinated School Health, Early Childhood and Community Safety. GAVA's ultimate goal is to prevent obesity and diabetes, improve the health of the local community and build community power for health equity. GAVA's organizers identify potential leaders, provide training opportunities, and support active teams as they advance hundreds of evidence-based health strategies. Organizers support each GAVA team in creating an action plan, drawing on a compendium of evidence-based strategies compiled by researchers and content experts in the community. Resident leaders on the GAVA teams determine the specific actions they will take to improve health access in their neighborhoods, such as improved playgrounds or lighting at a local park; completed sidewalks; after-school menu revisions; refrigeration or play equipment in a childcare center; or a healthy corner store.

2017 recipients

Camp PowerUp is a place where children learn valuable skills they need to live a full and healthy life. It is specifically designed for children with multiple risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. The program offers a structured, kid-friendly program in key areas, including nutrition education, fitness, and health and wellness education. The program also provides parents with dedicated sessions that cover topics their children are learning at camp so they can continue to influence their child’s behavior and provide continued support for healthy lifestyle choices after camp.

What Can I Eat? (WCIE) is an interactive diabetes self-management support program. WCIE focuses on nutrition education for both adults with type 2 diabetes and their caregivers. The program consists of four weekly 90-minute sessions, followed by a reunion three months later, which serves to reinforce positive behaviors and share life lessons. WCIE uses activities that motivate and empower participants to adopt healthier eating habits. Topics such as how to read food labels and best practices when grocery shopping are covered.

Camp Surefire is a summer program for local youth with type 1 diabetes. The weeklong, overnight program features recreational activities, diabetes education seminars, and socialization with peers who understand the unique challenges of living with type 1 diabetes. Camp Surefire is for children ages 6-17, with all volunteer counselors, who receive field experience in medicine, pharmacology, education, and nutrition.

The Sulzbacher Diabetes Care Initiative provides clinical care and education for homeless and uninsured adults. It was created to address the growing need for diabetic medical care for the homeless and low-income members of the local community. The initiative consists of four components: provision of glucometers and test strips; diabetic nutrition classes; provision of medication and pharmaceuticals; and diabetic eye care.

Supportive Older Women's Network (SOWN), Philly Families Eat Smart (PFES), Philadelphia, PA aims to reduce obesity and improve physical wellbeing for grandparent-headed families. PFES, a project of the GrandFamily Resource Center, works not just to educate, but also to foster peer support relationships and ultimately change lifestyle behaviors. Children and their custodial grandparents will participate in the educational and experiential program twice a month. Topics and activities include: emotional eating, physical fitness (including sidewalk games and yoga), cultural food choices, and attitudes toward wellbeing.

The Diabetes Self-Management for Low-Income Appalachian Adults program provides diabetic care for underprivileged patients in the community. The program offers direct medical care by carefully monitoring glucose levels and other health related markers, as well as providing eye exams. Patients also participate in exercise activities, hands-on cooking methods, and weight loss techniques. Enrollees in the program commit to one class per month, and at least one other risk-factor class, such as  a class focused on exercise, stress management, or smoking cessation.

The YMCA of Southern Maine’s Youth in Motion initiative works with local youth at risk of developing diabetes or other health conditions associated with a sedentary lifestyle. These children are referred to the Y by pediatricians affiliated with Maine Medical Center. The Y matches each child with an adult mentor who engages them in fun, accessible physical activity and the Y’s three dimensions of health and well-being for youth: relationships, accomplishments, and belonging. Children in the program meet with their mentors once a week for 12 weeks.

The Diabetes Wellness and Prevention Program is a newly enhanced effort at the YWCA of Asheville. It will use evidence based curriculum and referrals through partnerships with community organizations, including Western North Carolina Community Health Services to help increase diabetes education and awareness. Other local initiatives that focus on increased access to healthy foods, such as the Double Up Food Bucks program, will support participants in the Diabetes Wellness program. The program participants will attend classes for 6 weeks, which will  be followed by 6 months of weekly support group meetings.

2016 recipients

Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago (BGCC) received a grant in 2016 to strengthen and enhance nutrition education and after-school physical activity programs through its existing program, called "Triple Play: Mind, Body, & Soul." Triple Play incorporates the national "Healthy Habits" curriculum, which equips youth with crucial skills needed to become healthy, successful adults by addressing the "mind" (knowledge and nutrition education), "body" (challenging, non-competitive physical fitness), and "soul" (development of social and ethical skills through sports and active hobbies). Overall, BGCC provides youth with the knowledge and skills needed to make smart choices that lead to healthier lifestyles and overall long-term well-being.

Based in Dallas, the DHWI received a grant in 2016 for their Healthy Weight Management Program, which delivers two curriculums- the Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program (HELP), designed for adults that have been identified to be at risk for the development of diabetes, and the Group Lifestyle Balance Program (GLB), designed for any adult that seeks to make improvements in his or her weight and who may or may not have diabetes or other chronic conditions.

Overall, the DHWI has been able to support many program participants with maintaining a healthy lifestyle resulting in the prevention or control of diabetes. The DHWI is committed to continuing to meet educational and lifestyle modification needs in the southern Dallas community.

In 2016, the YMCA of Greater Hartford received a grant to implement the national YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program.

The YMCA of Greater Hartford anticipates 70 program participants by the end of year 1 (2017) and over 1,800 total participants by the end of year 5 (2021). Since the YMCA of Metropolitan Hartford has six full-facility branches and four program branches, it will be able to scale the program across all sites over time.

Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Dogs4Diabetics (D4D) received a grant in 2016 for the support of a dog sponsorship. This included extensive training for both the dog and the Client.

D4D dogs are specially trained to identify and alert their diabetic handler when they smell the subtle scent that hypoglycemia creates (humans cannot detect this scent). Dogs can detect this chemical change in the body even before it is registered by existing technology. This allows Clients to treat the condition before they become symptomatic. As a result, the diabetic individual can remain alert and active and avoid the debilitating impact of a hypoglycemic episode. This also means that Clients avoid the long-term risks associated with diabetes, such as blindness and amputation.

Based in Portland, OR, the Legacy Weight and Diabetes Institute received a grant in 2016 to support the launch of four new 12-month Prevent T2 groups – three in-person (on-site) groups and one virtual group. Prevent T2 groups meet weekly for two months, biweekly for the next four months, and monthly for the final six months (12 months total). Prevent T2 is based on the CDC's National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), which addresses diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes with the goal of increasing physical activity and reducing body weight. This project is designed to benefit people with a previous diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) or a current diagnosis of pre-diabetes. The goals of the project are to prevent or, at the minimum, delay the onset of diabetes, which will reduce medical costs and improve the health-related quality of life for participants and their families.

Group insurance policies are underwritten by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, MA) in all states, except New York. In New York group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, MI). Product offerings may not be available in all states and may vary depending on state laws and regulations.

SLPC 1242500444 11/23 (Exp. 11/25)